Evento 13 marzo 2007

13 Marzo 2007- Villa Madama, Roma
13 МАРТА 2007 – РИМ, ВИЛЛА МАДАМА
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SESSIONE I
“Energia ed economia: quale dialogo fra Russia e Italia?”
ЭНЕРГЕТИКА И ЭКОНОМИКА: КАКОЙ ДИАЛОГ МЕЖДУ РОССИЕЙ И ИТАЛИЕЙ?
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SESSIONE II
“Percezioni reciproche: il ruolo della cultura e dei media”
ВЗАИМНОЕ ВОСПРИЯТИЕ: РОЛЬ КУЛЬТУРЫ И СРЕДСТВ МАССОВОЙ ИНФОРМАЦИИ
Con il patrocinio di:
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Main Sponsor:
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Ottavio Farnese, a nephew of Pope Paul III. Cardinal Medici's "vineyard" was named Villa Madama after her,
as was Palazzo Madama in Rome, now home of the Italian Senate, and the town of Castel Madama near
Tivoli. Upon Margaret's death, the villa became the property of the Farnese family, the Dukes of Parma and
Piacenza. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it slowly fell into ruin. The villa deteriorated even more after the
Farnese family became extinct and it passed to Don Carlos of Bourbon, who became King of Naples in 1735,
through his mother's side of the family. Over time, Villa Madama was slowly but surely stripped of all
remaining furnishings of any artistic value. It was later downgraded to the status of a farm in the inventory of
Farnese property owned by the Kings of Naples until the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was annexed to the
Kingdom of Italy. In 1913, the ruins were purchased by Maurice Bergès, an engineer from Toulouse
enamoured of Italy and Rome, who asked Marcello Piacentini to oversee its restoration. But, the true merit for
restoring the villa to its pristine glory goes to the Dentice di Frasso family, who purchased it in 1925 and
completed the original Piacentini restoration project. In 1937, the villa was leased to the Italian Ministry for
Foreign Affairs and was purchased by the Italian State in 1941.
The small late XIXth century map here below shows: 1) Villa Madama; 2) Site of today's Foro Italico; 3)
Ponte Molle (Milvio).
Today (view from Foro Italico)
Paintings and Stucco Reliefs
The villa has a number of whimsically high chimneys that enliven the façade, a semicircle with a single order
of large windows enclosed with a double frame of columns and vines. The hall is decorated with precious
stucco reliefs by Giovanni da Udine.
The minute, elegant ivy motif is visible on the double pillars. A delicate vertical band of sheaves of wheat
alternates on the walls with a strip of small medallions or geometric forms with classical figures and scenes.
There is canopy with elegantly depicted scenes in the middle. This work by Giovanni da Udine was inspired
by famous stuccoes from the Domus Aurea and Roman baths, which he discovered and studied.
There is a sharp contrast between the white stucco scenes in the hall and the richly coloured decorations of
the loggia. According to tradition, they were begun by Raphael and completed by his students Giovanni da
Udine, Giulio Romano and Giovan Francesco Penni also known as il Fattore. They were inspired by ancient
Roman constructions by now buried. The lower part of the decoration was almost completely destroyed
during the occupation by successive waves of troops and from later being turned into a farm. What is left is a
myriad of small frescos of mythological and literary subjects inside a border of rich ornamental elements, a
profusion of flowers, leaves, drapery, mythological figures, animals and bizarre geometric designs. Alongside
the mythological and literary figures are decorations with heraldic motifs and scenes.
The decorations in the two rooms to the right of the loggia also contain a wealth of heraldic motifs, and lovely
cross-windows in a 15th century style. Aside from the Raphael loggia, the villa's greatest artistic element is the
huge room by Guilio Romano, with its magnificent vaulted ceiling and decorations in various styles.
The Gardens
The villa's architecture is perfectly immersed in its natural surroundings and its painting are nothing more than
a continuation of the trees and flowers on the grounds.
In the garden facing the loggia, the numerous fountains include one on the left known as the Elephant
Fountain. Designed by Giovanni da Udine, it depicts the Indian elephant "Annone", brought to Rome by a
Portuguese ambassador coming from Goa in 1514. The animal became a pet of court and populace and was
given the honour of having a tomb designed by Raphael himself.
Henry James's account of his visit to Villa Madama in 1873
A drive the other day with a friend to Villa Madama, on the side of Monte Mario; a place like a page out of
one of Browning's richest evocations of this clime and civilisation. Wondrous in its haunting melancholy, it
might have inspired half "The Ring and the Book" at a stroke. What a grim commentary on history such a
scene - what an irony of the past! The road up to it through the outer enclosure is almost impassable with
mud and stones. At the end, on a terrace, rises the once elegant Casino, with hardly a whole pane of glass in
its façade, reduced to its sallow stucco and degraded ornaments. The front away from Rome has in the
basement a great loggia, now walled in from the weather, preceded by a grassy belittered platform with an
immense sweeping view of the Campagna; the sad-looking, more than sad-looking, evil-looking, Tiber
beneath (the colour of gold, the sentimentalists say, the colour of mustard, the realists); a great vague stretch
beyond, of various complexions and uses: and on the horizon the ever-iridescent mountains. The place has
become the shabbiest farmhouse, with muddy water in the old pièces d'eau and dunghills on the old parterres.
The "feature" is the contents of the loggia: a vaulted roof decorated by Giulio Romano; exquisite stucco-work
and still brilliant frescoes; arabesques and figurini, nymphs and fauns, animals and flowers - gracefully lavish
designs of every sort. Much of the colour - especially the blues - still almost vivid, and all the work
wonderfully ingenious, elegant and charming. Apartments so decorated can have been meant only for the
recreation of people greater than any we know, people for whom life was impudent ease and success.
Margaret Farnese was the lady of the house, but where she trailed her cloth of gold the chickens now scamper
between your legs over rotten straw. It is all inexpressibly dreary. A stupid peasant scratching his head, a
couple of critical Americans picking their steps, the walls tattered and befouled breast-high, dampness and
decay striking in on your heart, and the scene overbowed by these heavenly frescoes, mouldering there in their
airy artistry! It's poignant; it provokes tears; it tells so of the waste of effort. Something human seems to pant
beneath the grey pall of time and to implore to rescue it, to pity it, to stand by it somehow. But you leave it to
its lingering death without compunction, almost with pleasure; for the place seems vaguely crime-haunted paying at least the penalty of some hard immorality. The end of a Renaissance pleasure-house. Endless for the
didactic observer the moral, abysmal for the story-seeker the tale.
Villa Madama
The History
Named in honour of Margaret of Austria, Villa Madama was built in the sixteenth century, during the reign of
Popes Leo X and Clement VII. Inspired by the new Renaissance love for nature, art and the pleasures of life,
it was one of the first of such villas to spring up around the Eternal City. Villa Madama was in perfect
harmony with the new tastes of a society that had abandoned the Middle Ages and their dark dungeon-like
palaces, imprisoned inside city walls, for long stays in charming country villas. It was a cardinal, Giulio de'
Medici, cousin of the reigning pontiff, who ordered a villa built at the foot of Monte Mario. The overall plan
was designed by Raphael, who then left the execution to his disciples.
Antonio da Sangallo the Younger produced the final plans and supervised the actual construction. The
decorations are by Giulio Romano, Baldassare Peruzzi, Giovanni Battista da Udine, Giovan Francesco Penni,
also known as il Fattore, and Florentine sculptor Baccio Bandinelli. Cardinal de' Medici's "vineyard", as it was
called, was designed as a grand panorama of terraces. However, only part of the original design was built:
Raphael died, the terrain caved in easily and costs were far higher than the estimates. It is certain that the work
was still far from completed in 1519. But after Giulio de' Medici became Pope Clement VII in 1523, work
resumed with fresh ardour in 1524-25 and the villa was soon completed.
After the death of Clement VII the villa became Medici property, first belonging to the young, restive Cardinal
Ippolito, and later to Duke Alessandro, Lord of Florence. The latter married Margaret of Austria, the
illegitimate daughter of Charles V, who later became Duchess of Parma and Piacenza and then Governess of
the Netherlands. Widowed at the early age of 15, she became the bride, and soon afterwards widow, of

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